


now we gotta talk

by localspacelesbian



Category: Andi Mack (TV), Diary of a Future President (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff, Gay Disasters, M/M, Tennis Boyfriends, swingsets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-16
Updated: 2020-03-16
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:07:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23164465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/localspacelesbian/pseuds/localspacelesbian
Summary: Bobby sends a text and immediately regrets it, until he makes two new friends who help get up the courage to tell Liam how he feels.
Relationships: Bobby Cañero-Reed/Liam Carter, Cyrus Goodman/T. J. Kippen
Comments: 31
Kudos: 130





	now we gotta talk

_ ‘Hey man, gotta talk to you about something’ _

Sent.

_ Shit. _

Bobby nearly threw his phone down on the bathroom counter. What had he been thinking? He wasn’t ready to talk to Liam. He grabbed his phone and ran. He didn't really know where he was going. This wasn't exactly a problem he could run away from, but he could sure as hell try.

He stopped when he ended up at the park. He looked across the park at the tennis courts his dad used to bring him to. He really didn't want to think about  _ that _ right now. He  _ was _ kind of in the mood to hit something though. But, you know, peace and love and all that bullshit his mom had been drilling into his head all week. And he didn't have his tennis racket with him anyway. He looked around the park. There weren't a ton of people there, considering it was a relatively nice spring afternoon. A few kids on the playground. A couple families walking around. Two boys about his age on the swingset.

He walked around a bit, not really sure what to do. He checked his phone. Liam hadn't read the message yet. But had no way of knowing if he'd seen the notification or not. He sighed and fell back down on the grass, closing his eyes to try to block out the world.

He heard the sound of someone jumping off one of the swings and landing not too far away from him, but he didn't think anything of it until he heard a voice ask, "You ok, dude?"

He opened his eyes and turned his head just a bit. Standing over him was one of the boys he'd seen on the swings. Up close, he realized that he was maybe a year older than him, with dirty blond hair and green eyes. He was kind of cute. Not as cute as- he stopped that thought before it got to far. Why was he still staring at him? Oh yeah, he'd asked him a question. He sat up, leaning back on his elbows. "Yeah, I'm just chillin."

The boy raised his eyebrow and glanced back at the swings for a second before looking back at Bobby with a challenging look. "Bet I can swing higher than you." 

Bobby sat up a little bit more, so he was leaning on his hands. "What are you? Five?"

He shrugged. "Never too old to swing. Unless you're scared I'll beat you."

Bobby rolled his eyes. He knew exactly what this kid was doing. But fuck it. He could use a distraction, and here was a cute boy offering him one. He held out his hand, and the boy smiled as he helped him up.

"I'm TJ, by the way."

"Bobby."

They walked over to the swings, and TJ sat in the one next to the other boy, who introduced himself as Cyrus. Bobby sat on the other side of TJ. As he started swinging, he realized that he couldn’t remember the last time he’d done this. It felt almost freeing? Like he was flying. He couldn’t help but feel a little silly, but it was like all his worries just flew away. He almost forgot that it was supposed to be a competition until he glanced over and saw how high TJ was swinging. Just before he turned back to focus on getting higher, he noticed the way Cyrus was looking at TJ as he lazily spun around in his own swing. It was the same way Camilla and Danielle looked at each other the other day, they same way his mom and dad used to look at each other, and he was pretty sure it was the same way he looked at Liam.

“Bet you I can jump farther!” TJ startled Bobby out of his thoughts.

Bobby smirked. “Oh you’re on!” He started pumping his legs faster to get as high as he could. Eventually, he and TJ got in sync, and TJ started counting down. “3…”

“2…”

“1!” They both jumped.

Bobby couldn’t help but smile as he soared through the air and landed gracelessly next to TJ, barely a few inches farther than him. “I won.” He gave him a smug look, weirdly proud of winning the dumb competition.

“Yeah, yeah, shut up.”

Cyrus walked quickly over to them. “Are you two ok?”

TJ rolled his eyes affectionately. “Yeah, mom, we’re fine.” He turned to Bobby. “Right?”

Bobby shrugged. “Yeah, I’m good.”

“That’s good.” When it became clear that neither he nor TJ had any plans of standing up anytime soon, Cyrus sat down in front of them, reaching his hand out to hold TJ’s as if by instinct. He was pretty sure that neither of them even realized they were doing it, but Bobby couldn’t stop himself from staring. His heart rate picked up, and he wasn’t completely sure why. 

“You ok, dude?” TJ asked. Shit, he must have noticed him staring. God, they probably thought he was an asshole or something. He forced himself to look up at TJ’s face, and was surprised to see that he just looked concerned.

He forced a smile. “Yeah, I’m chill.”

He looked like he didn’t believe him, but he didn’t press it. Instead, Cyrus spoke up. “Well, swinging always makes me feel better.” Bobby was about to ask what he’d needed to feel better about, but apparently he didn’t have to because Cyrus just went on, talking rather quickly. TJ stared at him in amusement, like he was the most interesting thing in the world. Cyrus sighed dramatically. “I love my friends, but they can be a lot. Like, I need a vacation from this vacation. I’d almost be impressed with Buffy and Marty’s ability to turn literally anything into a competition if it weren’t so annoying. And they’ve dragged Jonah into it, too. And if I have to spend a single more second watching Amber and Andi pine after each other, I might actually explode.” He stopped to take a breath and gave Bobby a sheepish look. “Sorry, I know you don’t know who any of those people are, and you probably don’t care, I just-”

Bobby shook his head. “It’s chill.”

Cyrus smiled at him, then scooted a bit closer to TJ, who let go of his hand to put his arm over Cyrus’s shoulder. Bobby looked down, feeling a pang of… something. Jealousy maybe?

“What about you?” TJ asked.

Bobby looked up at him. “What about me?”

TJ shrugged one shoulder. “You look like you’ve got a lot on your mind.”

“I never have anything on my mind. I think I lost my one brain cell last week.”

TJ snorted. “What’d you do?”

Bobby pulled his knees up and rested his arms on them. “I got in a fight with my friend.”

“Why?” Cyrus asked.

“I don’t even really know. We were at the school dance, and the two of us and our other two friends had planned this prank to take the DJ’s laptop and switch out the slow songs for whale sounds.”

“That sounds awesome!” TJ interrupted with an impressed look on his face. Cyrus elbowed him lightly. “Right. Sorry. Go on.”

Bobby was glad someone was impressed with his prank ideas, but he continued the story, not really sure why he felt comfortable talking to these two strangers. Maybe it was just nice to have someone so ready to listen to him. Someone who wouldn’t tell his mom everything he said anyway. “Right. So. We were about to do the prank, and me and Danny and Ziggy all met where we planned, but Liam wasn’t there, and then I looked over, and he was dancing with a this girl, Jada.” TJ and Cyrus both winced, like they knew where this was going. “Yeah, so I went to get him, so we could do the prank, but he wouldn’t come with me. He said we should just do it without him. And I don’t know, I got like really upset. Like, he was choosing some girl over us.” _ Over me. _ “So I grabbed his arm and tried to pull him over to us, and he pushed me away. So I pushed him back. And then, suddenly we were on the ground, fighting, and a teacher had to pull us apart, and I got kicked out of the dance. He hasn’t talked to me since.”

“Have you tried talking to him?” Cyrus asked.

Right. The other stupid thing he’d done. He pulled out his phone. “Yeah, I texted him earlier. And then, I got scared and regretted it, but it was too late ‘cause it already sent. And now I’m here.”

“Did he respond?” TJ asked.

Bobby shook his head. “No, he hasn’t even-” But as he said it, he looked down and saw, in tiny letters, the word ‘ _ Read _ .’ He checked the time. It had only been a few minutes since he’d seen it. As he stared at his phone, the little bubbles to indicate that Liam was typing popped up. They were quickly replaced by a text. He looked up at the other two, the blood draining from his face. “He wants to meet up.”

“That’s good, isn’t it?” Cyrus asked. Bobby shook his head. Cyrus frowned. “Why isn’t that good?”

“Because now I have to talk to him.”

Cyrus gave him a sad smile. “Talking to him is the only way you’re gonna work things out.”

“But what do I say?” He hugged his knees closer to his chest.

Cyrus shrugged. “An apology is probably a good place to start. And explaining why you did it might help.”

_ How am I supposed to explain why I did it without telling him I like him? _ “What if he hates me?”

“If he’s really your friend, he won’t hate you.”

“Yeah, lord knows Cyrus has had to forgive worse stuff from me.” Bobby kind of wanted to know the full story there, but that probably wasn’t any of his business.

Cyrus leaned closer to TJ. “Well, you deserved to be forgiven.” He looked at Bobby. “And so do you.”

“You don’t even know me.”

Cyrus shrugged. “I happen to think I’m a pretty good judge of character. It’s kind of my thing.” Cyrus pointed at his phone. “And look, if he responded to you, that means he’s willing to hear you out at least, right?” Bobby nodded. He couldn’t really argue with that. “And I, for one, always think it’s a good idea to talk about your feelings.”

Bobby nodded again. He knew Cyrus was probably right, or at least, he knew his mom would probably tell him the same thing, but he’d never really been good at talking about his feelings. He hadn’t even told any of his friends about his dad. Well, except Liam. Liam, who had somehow wormed his way under his skin and gotten him to open up more than he had to anyone else. Liam, who had somehow turned what had seemed like the worst possible situation into a game, getting him to have more fun than he would have at the tournament they’d missed. Liam, who had made that dumb tennis ball trophy that Bobby had kept and couldn’t stop thinking about. Liam, who was sweet and cute and good at tennis and fun to be around and made him smile more than he had in the last three and a half years. Liam, who was probably waiting for him to text back right now. He glanced down at his phone and then looked back up at Cyrus and TJ, nodding again. “Ok. Ok. Yeah, I’ll talk to him.” He started to stand up. He looked around, noticing the tennis courts again and getting an idea. “I think I’ll tell him to come here.” He figured meeting in a neutral place would be better than either of there houses. “But I need to run home and grab something first.”

TJ and Cyrus smiled up at him. “Good luck,” TJ said.

“Thanks.” He turned, texting Liam as he walked away. He ran home, feeling nervous but also a little bit hopeful.

As he walked back into the park, he saw that TJ and Cyrus were still there, back on the swings. He gave them a small wave as he passed by them, and they both smiled at him, Cyrus giving him a thumbs up. He smiled at them and continued toward the tennis courts, where Liam was already waiting for him.

“I was beginning to think you’d stood me up again,” Liam said as Bobby approached.

Bobby shook his head. “I’d never do that to you. Again.”

Liam looked around the court. “So what? Are we gonna play tennis? I thought you wanted to talk.”

Bobby shrugged. “Can’t we do both?” Liam crossed his arms, not quite angry, but making it very clear which one had to come first. Bobby sighed. “Right. I’m sorry. I got upset when you didn’t want to do the prank with us, but I shouldn’t have lashed out at you like that. I spent all of Spring Break getting lectured at by my mom about anger management and peace and love and shit.” The corner of Liam’s mouth twitched slightly at that, and Bobby decided to count that as a win. “I really am sorry.”

Liam shook his head. “I just don’t get it. Danny and Ziggy were fine with doing the prank without me. Why did you care so much?” Bobby looked down, not quite ready to answer that particular question. After a beat of silence, Liam uncrossed his arms. “Fine.” Bobby looked back up at him. “Maybe I can forgive you.” He leaned down to pick up his racket and a ball. “But first, I’m gonna kick your ass. At tennis this time.” He smirked.

Knowing he was forgiven, Bobby tried not to make his relief too obvious as he picked up his own racket. “In your dreams, Carter.”

The game, like most games between the two of them, was really close and went on for a while. It was intense, but still friendly, the two of them throwing teasing banter to each other like they always did. It was comforting, like things were back to normal. After a while, Liam was ahead, and it was Bobby’s turn to serve. Instead of picking the ball up off the ground, he pulled out the one that was in his pocket, his heart in his throat. It had been an impulse decision, bringing the ball. But he wasn’t about to chicken out now. He glanced over at TJ and Cyrus, who were holding hands on the swings, their backs to the tennis court. It was comforting to know they were nearby, but he was also relieved that they weren’t watching him. He didn’t need an audience if this went as badly as he thought it would. If Liam noticed him switching tennis balls or taking a little bit longer to serve, he didn’t say anything. He served, and they went back and forth for a while before Bobby hit the ball just slightly out of bounds, losing the game. He walked over to the other side, trying to be a graceful loser as Liam celebrated, and trying not to show his nerves as Liam picked up the ball. 

He saw the exact moment Liam’s face switched from confusion to realization and back to confusion. It was like time stood still as he waited for Liam to look at him. “You kept this?”

He shrugged. “Of course I did.”

There was a silence that felt like it stretched forever. “Bobby?”

“Yeah?”

“Why were you really upset that I was dancing with Jada?”

Here it was. Time to share his truth. Palo Alto first base. He took a deep breath and tried to meet Liam’s eyes. “I was jealous.” There. He said it. Out loud. He hadn’t even quite admitted it to himself yet, but he knew it was true.

Liam tilted his head to the side. “Why would you be jealous? You  _ have _ a girlfriend.”

Bobby shook his head. “ _ Had _ a girlfriend. I broke up with Monyca yesterday.”

“Oh. Why?”

“She said I cared more about you than I did about her. And… She was right.”

“Oh.”

More silence that seemed to go on for eons. Or maybe it was only a few seconds. Liam glanced back down at the tennis ball, and Bobby suddenly became aware of how close they were standing to each other. He didn’t remember moving that close. Almost as if reading his mind, Liam took another step closer to him. Bobby looked down and saw Liam’s free hand move closer to his. Time seemed to move agonizingly slowly as Bobby reached out his own hand to meet him halfway. And then they were holding hands. He couldn’t help but notice that their hands fit together much better than his and Monyca’s had. He looked back up at Liam’s face. His expression was unreadable.

“I like you.” Just in case he hadn’t made that clear yet. 

Liam smiled, letting out a short breath. “I like you, too.”

Bobby let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding and smiled back. He nodded. “Good. Chill. That’s…” 

“Chill?” Liam guessed, chuckling lightly in amusement. Bobby looked down, blushing. Liam squeezed his hand, prompting him to look back up. “You good?”

Bobby smiled. “Never better.”

He found himself glancing down at Liam’s lips involuntarily, for once not feeling guilty about thinking about kissing Liam. He wasn’t sure who leaned forward first, but suddenly, they were kissing.  _ Oh. That’s what that’s supposed to feel like. _ It was a little awkward, but a completely different kind of awkward than kissing Monyca had been; it was awkward the way first kisses are supposed to be awkward, not because he was pretending to be something he wasn’t. It was warm and sweet and perfect, and he finally got all the hype around kissing. He moved his free hand to Liam’s waste and barely registered the sound of the tennis ball hitting the ground as it fell from Liam’s hand when he moved it up to the back up Bobby’s neck. When they separated, they leaned their foreheads together, smiling at each other and breathing just a little bit heavily.

As the two of them left the court a few minutes later, Bobby looked around and saw that TJ and Cyrus were gone, but he noticed that there was something on one of the swings, the swing he’d used earlier. Curious, he walked over to it, still holding Liam’s hand. As he got closer, he saw that it was a piece of paper taped to the swing with rainbow washi tape. He picked it up and unfolded it. Inside, there was a coupon for two free milkshakes from a nearby ice cream shop, and on the paper was written, ‘first date’s on us,’ in neat cursive writing and below that, in much messier handwriting, ‘gay rights!’ with a little heart next to it. He laughed, and Liam gave him a confused look.

“Who-”

“It’s a long story.” He shook his head. “But what do you think?” He held up the coupon. “Milkshakes?”

Liam shrugged and gave him a teasing smile. “That sounds chill.”


End file.
